s how "the Angel of
the Lord which went before Israel removed and went behind" (xiv. 19);
while Numbers (xx. 16) says expressly that "He sent an Angel and brought
us out of Egypt."

By the comparison of these and many later passages (which is nothing but
the scientific process of induction, leaning not on the weight of any
single verse, but on the drift and tendency of all the phenomena) we
learn that God was already revealing Himself through a Medium, a
distinct personality whom He could send, yet not so distinct but that
His name was in Him, and He Himself was the Author of what He did.

If Israel obeyed Him, He would bring them into the promised land (ver.
23); and if there they continued unseduced by false worships, He would
bless their provisions, their bodily frame, their children; He would
bring terror and a hornet against their foes; He would clear the land
before them as fast as their population could enjoy it; He would extend
their boundaries yet farther, from the Red Sea, where Solomon held Ezion
Geber (1 Kings ix. 26), to the Mediterranean, and from the desert where
they stood to the Euphrates, where Solomon actually possessed Palmyra
and Thiphsah (2 Chron. viii. 4; 1 Kings iv. 24).

FOOTNOTES:

[38] Even if the rendering were accepted, "Must My Presence (My Face) go
with thee?" (Can I not be trusted without a direct Presence?) the
argument would not be affected, because Moses presses for the favour and
obtains it.

CHAPTER XXIV.

_THE COVENANT RATIFIED. THE VISION OF GOD._

xxiv.

The opening words of this chapter ("Come up unto the Lord") imply,
without explicitly asserting, that Moses was first sent down to convey
to Israel the laws which had just been enacted.

This code they unanimously accepted, and he wrote it down. It is a
memorable statement, recording the origin of the first portion of Holy
Scripture that ever existed as such, whatever earlier writings may now
or afterwards have been incorporated in the Pentateuch. He then built an
altar for God, and twelve pillars for the tribes, and sacrificed
burnt-offerings and peace-offerings unto the Lord. Sin-offerings, it
will be observed, were not yet instituted; and neither was the
priesthood, so that young men slew the offerings. Half of the blood was
poured upon the altar, because God had perfected His share in the
covenant. The remainder was not used until the law had been read aloud,
and the people had answered with one voice, "A